Practice ammunition

ABSTRACT

A practice ammunition projectile comprises a head which bursts when the projectile strikes a target and contains a marking agent which optically indicates the point of impact after the head has burst. The marking agent consists of several chemical components ( 7, 8 ) which are each contained in separately breakable compartments ( 4, 5 ) within a burstable hood at the head of the projectile. When the compartments ( 4, 5 ) break open the components combine and undergo a chemical reaction which creates an optical mark. The hood is formed of an optically transparent material to enable the trajectory of the projectile to be tracked.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to practice ammunition including a marking agent.

In the use of practice ammunition of this kind—such as practice shellsand practice bombs—it is important to mark the impact site so as toobtain optimum practice results. To this end, the practice ammunitioncomprises a head with a chamber containing a marking agent, preferably apowder with a reddish color. The head is made of a material which whenstriking a target will burst and release the colored powder. The powderis scattered within some radius about the impact site, thus marking thelatter optically. However, the colored powder is visible only underconditions of sufficient brightness; under low light or at night it willnot be visible unless powerful night viewing equipment is used.

The U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,450 discloses a practice projectile in which themarking agent is contained in a burstable hood at the head of thepractice projectile. The marking agent has chemical components containedin separate frangible compartments which are mixed and react chemicallyas the compartments burst when the practice projectile strikes itstarget, this chemical reaction causing the optical marking to beproduced. A practice projectile of this kind will make its impactvisible at night as well.

The German Patent Publication No. DE-AS 11 99 660 discloses a practiceprojectile to be fired from a barrel-type weapon and also having amarking agent comprising chemical components contained in a plurality ofseparate frangible compartments. In this projectile, these compartmentsare designed to burst when the projectile leaves the muzzle. This willcause the practice projectile to come apart and to eject from the muzzleof the barrel a mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke visible from a greatdistance. The firing of live ammunition will thus be simulated in a morerealistic manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a principal object of the present invention to improve upon apractice ammunition projectile of the type described above including achemically reactive marking agent, and to enable its trajectory to beobserved, if desired.

This object, as well as further objects which will become apparent fromthe discussion that follows, are achieved, in accordance with thepresent invention, by providing compartments for the chemicalcomponents, which are adapted to be broken up by the initialacceleration forces and/or the centrifugal forces applied to theprojectile when it is fired, and by providing a hood, surrounding thecompartments, which is formed of optically transparent material toenable the trajectory of the practice projectile to be tracked.

In accordance with the invention, the compartments containing thechemical components are broken up as early as in the initial and/or thetwist acceleration phases. The compartments are individually containedin a hood made of an optically transparent material and located at thehead of the practice projectile. On impact, the hood will burst andrelease the marking agent to identify the impact site. At the same time,the optically transparent hood enables the marking—such as thechemoluminescent effect of the chemically reacting components—to beperceived along the entire trajectory of the practice projectile. Thechemical components are selected to produce a sustained luminous effectlasting for an extended period of time, enabling the practice projectileto be optically tracked along its entire trajectory, and additionally tomark the impact site.

The duration of the chemical reaction, as well as the frequency and thebrightness of the emitted light, may be adjusted within broad ranges byproperly selecting the chemically reactive components. The reactionpreferably produces sustained luminous effects so that the trajectory ofthe practice ammunition may be optically tracked, and so that the impactsite will be marked.

The present invention preferably uses starting materials which, whenchemically reacted, emit light in the visible or infrared ranges. Ifemitted in the infrared range, the marking light may be observed withnight viewing equipment.

Swiss Patent No. CH 381 565 discloses a practice projectile comprising atransparent hood at the head thereof which will burst on impact, suchhood containing a marking material such as a colored powder. However,this optically transparent hood is intended only to recognize the colorof the powder so as to distinguish various types of projectiles, such aspractice projectile and live ammunition. It is not possible with likedesigns to track the trajectory of the projectile.

For a full understanding of the present invention, reference should nowbe made to the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section through practice ammunition in theform of a practice cartridge comprising an inventive practice projectileand a case receiving the latter;

FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section through a practice projectileaccording to another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings. Identical elements inthe various figures are designated with the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows a practice projectile 1 received in a cartridge case 2. Thehead of practice projectile 1 has a hood 3 consisting of a transparentmaterial—such as a plastic material—and covering a first compartment 4and a second compartment 5. The two compartments are arranged one on topof the other and are separated from each other by a partition 6therebetween. The first compartment is filled with a first chemicalcomponent 7 such as an oxidant and the second compartment is filled witha second chemical component 8 such as a reducing agent.

When the partition is broken up by the force of the accelerationgenerated during firing, for example, the chemical reaction of the twochemical components causes chemoluminescent light to be emitted which isvisible through the transparent hood while the projectile is flying. Onstriking the target, the hood bursts, causing the end products of thereaction to be scattered in the vicinity of the impact site, whereby theemitted light marks that site optically and is visible from greatdistances.

FIG. 2 shows an inventive practice projectile 1 in which the head andits transparent hood 3 are designed to include a first compartment 4holding a first chemical component 7 and a second compartment 5 holdinga second chemical component 8, said compartments placed in aside-by-side longitudinal relationship. The compartments are separatedlongitudinally by a partition 6, which is designed to be broken up bythe centrifugal force produced by the twist of a twist-stabilisedpractice projectile, for example, to enable the chemical reaction totake place which constitutes the marking means. In both embodiments(FIG. 1 and FIG. 2), the partitions may be provided with predeterminedbreaking points. Such breaking points are shown as thin regions 11 inFIG. 1.

There has thus been shown and described a novel practice ammunitionprojectile which fulfills all the objects and advantages soughttherefor. Many changes, modifications, variations and other uses andapplications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent tothose skilled in the art after considering this specification and theaccompanying drawings which disclose the preferred embodiments thereof.All such changes, modifications, variations and other uses andapplications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of theinvention are deemed to be covered by the invention, which is to belimited only by the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a practice ammunition projectile comprising a head designed to burst when the projectile strikes a target and to receive a marking agent optically indicating the impact after the head has burst, said marking agent contained in a burstable hood at the head of the practice projectile and comprising a plurality of chemical components each received in a separate frangible compartment, said components being mixed and reacting chemically with each other as the compartments break up, causing the optical marking reaction to be produced, the improvement wherein the compartments are adapted to be broken up by at least one of the initial acceleration and the centrifugal forces on the projectile when in use, and wherein the hood is formed of an optically transparent material to enable the trajectory of the projectile to be tracked.
 2. Practice ammunition projectile as in claim 1, wherein the optical marking is visible in the infrared range.
 3. Practice ammunition projectile as in claim 1, wherein the optical marking emits light in the visible and infrared ranges.
 4. Practice ammunition projectile as in claim 1, wherein the compartments are separated by partitions and said partitions have predetermined breaking points therein. 